He was a mere lad and hardly ever had been away from home for a single night before enlistment. A green country boy, pure in thought, chaste in speech and modest in demeanor, correct in his habits, and diligent in the pursuit of knowledge as to his new duties as a soldier. Too young for the hardships of camp and march and the awful scenes and carnage of the battlefield. He was anxious to join the army and fight for the Union. He inherited patriotic devotion for the land that stood for liberty and freedom. He comprehended beyond his years the wicked and dastardly motives of those who sought to destroy the Union of States and establish the barbarous and inhuman institution of American slavery throughout the land.

None of the boys of company G rejoiced more, when President Lincoln sent forth his Emancipation Proclamation. He was now more anxious than ever with all his mind, strength and devotion to fight for his home and overnment. After he enquired of his officers and comrades if we should conquer General Lee’s army. Not one of the boys of Company G were more faithful, obedient and courteous than Comrade Newcity. He was a good boy, soldier, brave, conscientious and true with innocent faith and abiding confidence that all would come out for the best. He often spoke of home and the loved ones he left behind and with affectionate manifestations spoke of the prospect of reunion when the war was over. He seemed to think one great battle would end the conflict and that was near at hand. On the march to Gettysburg he frequently said we will have a mighty battle and then the war will be over. To this boy soldier I became strongly attached and sincerely hoped he might be safely returned to home and schoolmates and friends. I could not bear the thought that such should be sacrificed on the field of battle.

On the second day of the battle after the charge when we retook our cannon that General Longstreet’s men had captured cheerfully said, “We shall win the day and then for home.”

He was killed the following day, July 3rd, 1863.

Source: History of the 13th Regiment Vermont Volunteers

Burial:

Non-Cemetery Burial

Specifically: Died in battle at Gettysburg, Pa

Burial unknown.

Jude Newcity never knew his roots. Two of his ancestors were soldiers: Mathurin Villeneuve with the Carignan-Salières regiment, in 1665, who fought the Iroquois, and Jacques Aveline with the Berry regiment, in 1760, who fought the British at the Battle of Sainte-Foy.

Only a few remembered Jude Newcity who left no descendants to honor his memory.

The second day of March one thousand eight hundred thirty-five, after the publications of three bans done during the mass sermons, between Édouard Villeneuve minor son of defunct Joseph Villeneuve and of Louise Racine residents of this parish on the one part and of Collette Aveline minor daughter of Jean-Baptiste Aveline and Marie Végiard dit Labonté residents of this parish on the other part, having received no objections from the parents we priest undersigned have received their mutual consent and gave them the nuptial blessing in the presence of Jean Félix Dépard, Alexandre Chicoine, Ambroise Roi, and Jean-Baptiste Aveline who with the spouses have declared not knowing how to sign.

Four words corrected with one crossed out.

Next time…

Is this Mary Archambeault and her husband Arthur Ashley on this picture?

If you’re looking for Roman Catholic records in the Ottawa Valley area, you’re almost certain to run into some French entries in the parish registers. But no worries, and please do not panic. Even if you don’t speak a word of French beyond “bonjour” and “merci beaucoup,” you canread and understand the relevant records.

First, realize that these records, whether written in Latin, French, English, Italian or whatever, all adhere to the same formula. The parish register was no place for authorial innovation and brilliant flashes of originality. So if you know the English-language formula (which you surely already do), then you’re already halfway there to figuring out the French. Second, learn a few key French terms and phrases which correspond to their English equivalents, and you’ve arrived at an understanding of the record (in fact, in many cases the bigger challenge will be to make out the priest’s handwriting, though you can do that too, once you understand what terms and phrases you’re looking at).

This entry deals with baptismal records, with marriage, burial and census records to follow in later entries.

And here’s my translation (note: I’m not a professional translator or anything like that, so my translation is purely utilitarian and no doubt inelegant):

The thirteenth of May one thousand eight hundred and fifty nine by we the undersigned priest was baptized [or: we the undersigned priest baptized] George William born the twenty-seventh of April of the legitimate marriage of George Cahill and Mary Moren [Moran] of this parish. The godfather was John Connely [Connelly] and the godmother Anne Shirly [Shirley] who could not sign.

Note that William is the child’s middle name, not his surname. In the case of a child “born of [a] legitimate marriage,” the priest typically did not give his/her last name in the text of the record, because the surname was understood to be that of the father (the surname will be found in the margins and/or in the record’s heading, though).

And please don’t be offended if the French-Canadian priest misspelled your English (or, more probably, Irish, since we’re dealing with RC Ottawa Valley records here) ancestor’s name. I’ve seen some truly bizarre renderings of French names by English-language (which is to say, generally, Irish) priests, after all. But nobody really cared about spelling before, roughly, the early twentieth century, anyway. And these priests were doing their best to create accurate, written records for people who spoke another language but who often didn’t write in any language at all. So the spellings were phonetic renditions from another language, which created ample opportunity for spelling variations.

Here are just a few of the French terms and phrases that you might encounter in a baptismal record, with English translations (but I’m too lazy to do numbers, which are easily google-able in any case):

The register for the year 1665 of the notary Pierre Teuleron contains 73 engagement contracts specifying embarkation on the ship “Cat of Hollande”. Those contracts were taken by Mister Debien and published in the “La revue d’Amerique francaise”. The name of Mathurin appears on one of the contracts signed on 31 Mar 1665.

The Cat of Holland is a ship of 200 barrels belonging to Albert Cornelis Kadt. Armed by Alexandre Petit, it lay up from La Rochelle at the end of April 1665, under the command of Charles Babin. After a stop at the port of call of Dieppe, it stops in Gaspé. Soldiers from the Antilles, on the Le Brézé, under the command of Mister de Tracy, embark on boarding order to rally Quebec and join the troops of the Regiment de Carignan, The Cat of Holland arrives in Quebec on June 18, 1665.

Mathurin’s life in Quebec city

Mathurin arrived in Quebec City on June 18, 1665, at the age of 19. On the Beauport census, Mathurin is registered as a barrel maker at Simon Denis. In 1667, Mathurin is 25 years old, still at Simon Denis. Before being given land of his own. He had to show proof of his good conduct and ability to work the land by being trained at a Colonist, older than he was. At the farm, located near Quebec, on the Notre-Dame des Anges Hill, in the part which later would be called Charlesbourg, he did his apprenticeship of the forest and the Canadian soil, he handled the ax to cut trees and burrowed the virgin soil. The owner of this land was Sieur de la Trinité and the most important of the new France in that period because it consisted of more than 100 acres. Saint-Denis, Sieur de la Trinité, Squire counsellor at the supreme council of Quebec, was owned by the French Nobility from Tours and established in 1650 at Beauport. Widowed by Jeanne Du Breuil, he married, Francoise Dutartre, in a second marriage. Many children were born from these two marriages.

In the 1666 Census, we find Mathurin Villeneuve attached to the family of Simon Denys de la Trinité. His profession is mentioned as being that of a barrel maker that he had probably acquired from his Rhétaise childhood, paired with that of farming. In the 1667 Census we find him still working on this land. Three other young men lived in Simon Denys’ house to get initiated, like him to the clearing of land for tillage. They were, 25 year old Francois Meunier of Bourgogne, Robert Laporte 30 years old and Jean Rasset, 22 years old from Rouen. In the surroundings of Sieur de la Trinité and consequently Mathurin Villeneuve, arrived Lille who also bore the title of Sieur Descormier who married Renée Desportes in 1664, a fellow-countrywoman of the young Villeneuve who came like him from Ile-de-Ré, in the parish of St-Étienne D’Ars. Let us mention also the Lemarché family, Sieurs des Roches, with three children, the oldest being Marguerite aged 10 years old in 1667 who will become the future wife of Mathurin Villeneuve.

Consequently, Mathurin will not stay forever at le Sieur de la Triniti. The farmer, Jean Lemarché, being the next door neighbor, made Mathurin an offer that pleased him on August 18, 1668. In front of the notary Gilles Rajeot, in Quebec, where he pledges to work for a year at Jean Lemarché.

The Lemarché family, must have thought that Mathurin was a brave man, because less than two years after working for the Lemarché family, he was offered Marguerite Lemarché in marriage, who at the time, was not twelve years old. Marguerite’s mother, Catherine Hurault had also married young, only 14 years old, with Jean Lemarché on the 18th of October 1654. Consequently, on July 30, 1670, there was a big reunion of parents and friends in Jean Lemarché’s home. The subject was serious because Maitre le Vachon would write a marriage contract. At this reunion, we find Jean Lemarché and his wife Catherine Hurault, Pierre Chalat, who was the butcher in Quebec, his wife Marie Bonin, also, Jean LeNormand from Quebec and Jean Tiberge from Charlesbourg. They are Marguerite and Mathurin’s witnesses. The Vachon notary also lists the names of the known Maitre Arrivé de Lille, Robert Laporte and Jean Rasset. Here is an interesting clause of this marriage contract “In favor of the said marriage, the father and mother of the said wife will give her a dowry of furnitures, buildings of the amount of one thousand treasure pounds that consist in farm land, house, barn, animals and other furniture”. We can also read “that the said parties have convened that the said Mathurin Villeneuve and his future bride Marguerite Lemarché will live with her parents (Jean and Catherine) for three consecutive years”. The little bride was so young, she had to approve this arrangement that permitted her to initiate herself to her tasks under the guidance of her mother. It must have went well, because a mention was added in the contract.

Mathurin acknowledged before two witnesses on January 3, 1672 to have received from his father-in-law the amount of 500 tournois. The marriage ceremony was celebrated four months later, on November 26, 1670. They probably waited for the young bride to reach her 12th birthday. It is M. Henri de Bernière who gave them the nuptial benediction in the Notre-Dame Parish in Quebec. Having lived three years with his in-laws, we find Mathurin again at the Notary (Paul Vachon) on June 23, 1672 but this time for land that he bought from the Pere Jesuites. On the notarised contract, we read “3 front acres on the road from Quebec to Charlesbourg, bound on one side by the concession of Nicolas Denis and other sides of the land of the village of St-Hierosine said la Petite Auvergne on one side of the large road of Charlesbourg and the other end to the land conceded, said Gros-Pin”. It seemed customary in that period that neighbors and friends helped with the construction of buildings and houses as was the case for Mathurin on the construction of his house before the winter of 1672/73. A very solid house build with strong Canadian wood who will house the couple with their future children.

This site has been such a great help in my family research. I have added my family info in hopes that it may help others. I am researching the following families: Strouhal and McClendon settled in Texas and the Newcity (Villeneuve), Twombly, Kidder, Grow, Brown families settled in the northeast in Vermont, NH, Mass, Ohio etc. Also researching the White family (Miss.) from my Uncle James L White. Let me know if you see anything that needs correcting or if you have additional info.

Have a nice day….

Susan has been searching for her roots since 2007 just like me. Someone helped me back in 2009 and the floodgates opened wide. Now it’s time for Susan’s floodgates to open wide.

Susan is a direct descendant of Edward Newcity who is Édouard Villeneuve, a French-Canadian who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1800s. I am a direct descendant of Dennis Lagasse who is Stanislas Lagacé, a French-Canadian who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1800s. Dennis Lagasse is a celebrity on this blog thanks to a lot of people who lent a helping hand and shared pictures of him without sometimes knowing who he was.

Dennis is the old man with the white hat. What Dennis has to do with Susan? Simple, his brother Joseph Lagasse married Edwina Newcity daughter of Edward Newcity and Calista…

Calista who? Susan has been searching for Calista Who’s and Edward Newcity’s ancestors. She sent me these notes.